Greening vows to be a pro as his NHL future is settled

NEW YORK • Colin Greening is among the more cerebral of hockey players, so it figures he would articulate his pending departure from the Ottawa Senators.

To a point. Greening is still taking in the events of the past 48 hours and doesn’t want to comment on being placed on waivers or of his agent finding a team to take on his contract (two-plus years left with a cap hit of $2.65 million).

On Monday, before the Senators flew to New York for a game with the Rangers, Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray had a conversation with Greening at ice level, after practice.

“Bryan told me that they’re trying to move me and I don’t think that comes as any surprise to anyone,” Greening says. “I’ve been in and out of the lineup most of the year and we’ve got a lot of guys who have come up and played really well.

“They’ve earned their spots. Right now it’s just a matter of numbers and so, we had a good conversation and we’ll see what happens from there.”

While Greening took part in the morning skate, he was not in the lineup against the Rangers and has likely played his last game as an Ottawa Senator. Of course it’s disappointing, says the 28-year-old native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, a graduate of Cornell University.

A seventh-round draft pick of the Senators in 2005, Greening had a 17-goal season in 2011-12 and contributed three goals and four points to the Senators 10 playoff games in 2013. Those two playoff series, against Montreal and Pittsburgh, in which he was an effective physical presence helped earn Greening a three-year, $7.95-million contract. Today, that deal limits Ottawa’s options with him.

Last season, Greening slumped to six goals and 11 assists in 76 games. This season, Greening has just one goal in 20 games played, while sitting out more than half the schedule as a healthy scratch.

“I signed a contract, I wanted to be here, but this is the business of hockey,” says Greening, a 6-3, 215-pound winger. “I’ve said before, I’m rooted in reality, I understand that guys are always trying to come up and they have to fill these spots and this is part of the game. Unfortunately that’s one of the negative parts of the business of hockey.”

Until his situation is resolved, Greening vows to continue to be a “professional,” show up and work hard in practice. He was asked about the catch-22 of a player trying to show his worth without getting precious ice time. In his 20 games played, Greening averaged nine minutes and 40 seconds per game.

Greening says that a GM assembles a roster, but the head coach (first Paul MacLean, now Dave Cameron) decides who plays and how much.

“There’s two different entities that are deciding this right now so sometimes it’s hard to keep track,” Greening says. “When you think about that, sometimes you can get a little overwhelmed, so that’s why you try and – like I said, be professional. And that’s all you focus on.”

Greening admits his contract could be a hurdle in getting him moved to another NHL team.

“That’s a possibility,” he says. “I hope in the end there’s something worked out, but I’m not going to comment right now because it’s still fresh in my mind.”

It’s been a trying week in a challenging season, but Greening isn’t about to let it spoil his all-star break later this week.

“I’m going to enjoy my time,” he says. “My wife and I are going to take some time away. This is why we need all-star breaks, you need it more from the mental break than sometimes the physical grind.”

LAZAR MISSES MSG

With the return of Chris Neil to the lineup, rookie Curtis Lazar sat out Tuesday’s game. It was just his third healthy scratch of the season. Lazar has played in the past four games since returning from the world junior tournament.

“It’s funny, the two rinks I wanted to play in this year were the United Center and MSG, and I didn’t get the chance this year,” said Lazar, who was a healthy scratch in Chicago on Oct. 26. “Obviously I’m hoping for a long and successful career and I’m sure there’s going to be lots of opportunity in the near future.”

Lazar didn’t seem overly surprised.

“It’s a numbers game right now, there’s a lot of moving parts,” he says. “I guess I’m versatile enough to play centre and wing but I talked to Dave about it. He wants a more veteran lineup to go against this high-octane team. I understand. Of course, I want to be in there, but I’m feeling really good about my game even if my minutes are down.”

NO MORNING SKATE

The Rangers did not skate Tuesday, and for them that has become the norm. Since head coach Alain Vigneault stopped having morning skates, the team has a 15-3 record.

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